Ayrshire Archives was formed as a result of the Local
Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and Section 53, in particular, which states
that Local Authorities are required to make 'proper
arrangements for the preserving and management of records transferred to them or
created by them; and have due regard for any comments made by the Keeper of the
Records of Scotland.' In response to this legislation, the three local
authorities in Ayrshire - East, North and South Ayrshire Councils - agreed to
the joint funding of an Ayrshire-wide archives service. As a result, Ayrshire
Archives was established on 1st October 1996.

Please note that the Vennel Local and Family
History Centre will close on Saturday 18th September and will reopen as the
North Ayrshire Heritage Centre at the North Ayrshire Museum, Manse Street,
Saltcoats on Monday 11th of October at 9.30am.

Covers North Ayrshire and consists of the
following communities:- Ardrossan, Beith, Dalry, Dreghorn, Fairlie, Irvine,
Kilbirnie, Kilwinning, Largs, Saltcoats, Skelmorlie, Stevenston, and West
Kilbride. The Isle of Arran and the Isles of Cumbrae also come within North
Ayrshire.

For a full list of resources
available at the centre you can also visit:

Old Parish Registers for all
the towns and villages of Ayrshire; IGI available on Microfiche (1992)
for Scotland; Census
returns for Ayrshire; 1856 Ord. Survey maps; Extensive collection of Maps
covering Ayrshire from around 1600; Graveyard Inscriptions; Local
Newspapers microfilm and original copies of local Ayr newspapers including
the Ayrshire Post (1880 to date), the Ayr Advertiser (from 1803 to date) and the
Ayr Observer (1832-1930) other newspapers from towns in south Ayrshire are also
held; Valuation Rolls for Ayrshire 1899-1942 (excluding Burghs of Ayr,
Irvine and Kilmarnock), Ayr Burgh from 1906-1974, Kyle and Carrick District from
1975-1996, South Ayrshire Council from 1996-; Voters Rolls from 1892
Burgh of Ayr, 1975-1996 Kyle and Carrick District Council, from 1996 to date
South Ayrshire Council; Local books, directories and pamphlets,
and a large collection of photographs covering the whole of Ayrshire.

A few lesser known reference
items available - 'The Register of Neglected Entries' nearly always
births, which were not registered at the time they occured, were registered when
Statutory Registration was introduced in 1855. The births were registered in
retrospect and were not always recorded in the parish of birth but in the parish
where living in 1855.

'Quad Sacra Parish' The
Church Parish.

Searches can also be
carried out by Carnegie library staff. Charges will depend on which searches are
carried out by staff, not on what is found or not found. The following tariffs
applied at November 2000.

The Family History Centres are
the local branches of the Family History Library of the Church of the Latter Day
Saints (LDS) in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was founded in 1894 and is now the
largest of its kind in the world holding in excess of 1.5 million rolls of
microfilmed records, 200,000 microfiche and over 195,000 books. Your local
centre will not HOLD everything but will have ACCESS to the many sources
detailed in THE FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY CATALOGUE which you can order on loan for
a a small charge.

The Mitchell Library holds
approximately 1.3 million items which have been acquired since it opened in
1877.
These are mostly available only for reference, although an increasing number are
now available for loan.

In the main, only the 300,000 titles
acquired since 1976, (1978 for material relating to Glasgow, 1987 for music) are
included in their catalogue,

although they intend to have
included all materials relating to Glasgow soon.

There are 12 research positions
with 11 available for prebooking and 1 available on a first come first served
basis although if any are not booked these are also made available.
Computers are linked to the main Registry Office in Edinburgh with all formal
civil and parish Records in Scotland searched. Microfiche data is only held for
the Civil Registrations 1855 to date for the former Strathclyde Region
area.

You can search for
Statutory Certificates (which are fully indexed) in person at both New Register
House, Edinburgh, and the Glasgow Genealogy Centre at 22 Park Circus, Glasgow,
or online at scotlandspeople. For
reasons of confidentiality, births after 1905, marriages after 1930 and deaths
after 1955 can only be viewed at either here or Park Circus in Glasgow (Glasgow
Genealogy Centre see below).

ScotlandsPeople - The online source of civil registration, open census
records, old parish registers and wills for Scotland.

The General Register
Office for Scotland (GROS) administers the registration of events such as
births, deaths, marriages, civil partnerships, divorces and adoptions, and is
responsible for the statutes relating to the formalities of marriage and conduct
of civil marriage. They take the census of Scotland's population every ten years
and prepare and publish demographic and other statistics for central and local
Government, for medical research, and for the private sector. They also make
available to customers public records about individuals, and maintain for the
Scottish Executive the National Health Service Central Register.
GROS is headed by the Registrar General for Scotland, Duncan Macniven.

Records held include:
Microfiche index of British Citizens who were born, married and died in the
ex-colonies between 1627 and 1968. Births and deaths at sea between July 1837
and 1965. Royal Naval returns of births, marriages and deaths from 1959. RAF
records of births, marriages and deaths from 1920.

The following national archives
and Libraries may
be useful to family historians:

HHARP - http://hharp.org/the home of 19th century children’s hospital records.
NEW - the addition of a new database
of admission records to the HHARP website: the Royal Glasgow Sick
Children’s Hospital. Covering the period 1883 (when the hospital first
opened) to 1903, the database offers insight into the health of the poor child
in the Scottish city of Glasgow, complementing databases already available for
three London hospitals: the Hospital for Sick Children at Great Ormond Street,
the Evelina Hospital and the Alexandra Hospital for Children with Hip Disease.
In HHARP family historians can find patients by name, medical
historians can study childhood diseases and investigate pioneering medical
staff, while demographers can analyse incidence of disease in Victorian and
Edwardian London. It provides access to nearly 120,000 individual admission
records between 1852 and 1914; and a collection of articles on the early history
of the hospitals, pen-portraits of personalities who inhabited them and a
gallery of images.

SLAINTEthe Scottish Libraries across the
Internet services are found at theSLAINTE
Website.

SCRAN
The Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network (SCRAN). Scran is a learning resource base and toolset
with 336,500 images, movies and sounds from museums, galleries, archives and the
media. Their
website
has an easy to use search engine.

Museums around the UK on the Web There
is a website which provides a comprehensive listing of museums around the
UK Website

Commonwealth War Graves Commission
This site contains a huge database of all those who gave their lives in the
First and Second World Wars. Searchable database online, with report results
containing Name, Rank, Regiment and Data of Death. Links on the names,
result in description of the persons memorial and place of burial.

Glasgow
Caledonian University Library
Contains a brief description of the collections held at the University,
including the Norman and Janey Buchan Collection of books and pamphlets and the
Children 1st archive.

Glasgow
University ArchivesGlasgow University Archive Services seeks to
collect original and unique archival records to support teaching and research in
Glasgow University and the wider community. Established in 1955, it preserves
and provides access to the University's own institutional archive and those of
predecessor or affiliated institutions. It actively seeks to acquire material
which support these official records such as papers of students and staff.

Glasgow
University Library
Contains a provisional, yet highly detailed catalogue of over 300 manuscripts
from the library of John
Ferguson who was Professor of Chemistry at the University between 1874-1915.
These manuscripts and over 7000 volumes relate in particular to alchemy,
although more diverse subjects including the occult, witchcraft and gypsy
literature are represented in his library.

National
Maritime Museum
Amongst the Museum's excellent pages is this one highlighting the opportunities
for research at the National Maritime Museum including its manuscripts,
photographs and artefacts.

St
Andrews University
Library
Pages include brief descriptions of the manuscript, rare books and photograph
collections. A More detailed information is available for those with an Adobe
Acrobat reader.

Victorian
Census Project
Based at Staffordshire University, the Victorian
Census Project contains details of the
transcription of the mid-Victorian Censuses including downloadable statistics.
1931 Census project.